Purrs 4 Peace Week 28 Announcement: LET'S GANG UP ON GANGS

“A team is where a boy can prove his courage on his own. A gang is where a coward goes to hide.” - Mickey Mantle

U.S. Government in its January 2009 National Gang Threat Assessment, there are approximately 1 million members belonging to various gangs in this country. As much as 80% of crime in many communities can be attributed to gang activity spanning from destruction of property to armed robbery, auto theft, drug trafficking, home invasion, gun violence and more. In fact, at least 65% of communities with populations of 100,000 or more experience gang related homicides.

And gang activity is not just in large cities anymore. Gangs are migrating from urban areas to suburban and rural areas for a many of reasons, including expanding drug distribution territories, increasing illicit revenue, recruiting new members, hiding from law enforcement, and escaping other gangs.

The conclusion of the Threat Assessment was that gangs pose a serious threat to the public safety in communities around the U.S.

There are a myriad reasons why young people join a gang, but chief among them are: poverty, peer pressure, boredom and hopelessness. It can be no surprise that the lack of inner peace and lack of peace in our world generates the conditions that create gangs. And then the gangs create more conditions of violence and unrest that beget more youth ripe for indoctrination. Clearly unrest begets unrest, chaos begets chaos, violence begets violence.

The good news is that Peace begets Peace. So this week we will purr to bring peace and harmony to our communities. We will purr to eradicate the blight that is gang violence.

Week 28 of Purrs 4 Peace details are as follows:

• Week twenty-eight’s appointed time is Sunday, December 20, 2009.
• Participants should purr for three minutes commencing at 3 p.m. EST (U.S.) which is 8:00 p.m. (20:00 hrs.) BST in the U.K.
• The cat’s human staff should assist their cats with the project by stroking and nuzzling the cat at the appointed time.
• Please post your cat name and the country you purr in at www.confuciuscat.blogspot.com as a COMMENT if you are participating in this historic project. (posting a link to your own website-if you have one-is encouraged.) Or let me know by message on twitter or facebook.
• Posting purrs on facebook ( Acolytes of Confucius Cat or as friend to Alley Mason) and twitter (@ConfuciusCat) is encouraged, since it inspires purring in others, but not required. On twitter please use #purrs4peace in your tweets.